Eclectica Music Festival 2008 – St. Helens 9 August

Britpop stars Shed Seven and festival favourites the Levellers will be the headline acts at this summer’s free Eclectica Music Festival in St.Helens.

The Levellers will be supporting headliners Shed Seven in the free concert in Victoria Square, St.Helens, on Saturday August 9th. Starting at 12 noon, this open-air festival will provide nearly ten hours of exciting and innovative entertainment, combining established acts and flourishing new talent.

Shed Seven’s Eclectica set is likely be a memorable one that will delight their devoted fan base and the new fans who, for the first time, are seeing them play together. They will be delving into their extensive back catalogue and selecting tracks from their best-selling studio albums which gave them a run of 15 consecutive Top 40 hits – including the classics ‘Going for Gold’, ‘Chasing Rainbows’, ‘Bully Boy’, ‘Getting Better’, ‘Disco Down’ and ‘On Standby’.

Eclectica will be a key date in the Levellers’ calendar for 2008, their 20th anniversary year. The band will be appearing fresh from an acclaimed performance at Glastonbury and just two days before they get ready to release their latest album – Letters from the Underground – on August 11th.

Support will be provided by The Maybes? and Amsterdam, who have already had a very successful 2008 with acclaimed festival performances and live gigs and a track on the Liverpool 08 Number One Project CD, duetting with Elvis Costello on the Searchers classic Don’t Throw your Love Away.

St.Helens bands appearing at Eclectica include The Cubical, Ghengis Grimes, The Hang Project, Red Orchestra, Mama Beani, Silent Thunder and Ariel Chambers. Liverpool bands The Little Hydes and Beaker Folk of the Bronze Age complete the diverse line-up of this innovative event which is funded by St.Helens Council and Objective 1 ERDF Programme.

Following the Eclectica Music Festival, The Citadel is hosting an Official Eclectica Aftershow Party featuring a DJ set from Shed Seven’s very own Rick Witter and live performances from El Policia and Our Fold. Doors open 9pm. Tickets: All £10.00. Tickets for this event are available from The Citadel box office, telephone 01744 735436 or visit www.citadel.org.uk